Annual Pixel Recreation Challenge – Team Building Exercise
This summer marks the second virtual programming of the Young Scholars Program. Within this virtual experience, accepted students will be working in a team with mentors to define research goals, learn new software, create status reports, understand research procedures, and more. 22 students were selected out of many bright applicants from across the Boston area.
This year, there are 12 participating professors: Mahshid Amirabadi (ECE), Sara Hashmi (ChemE), Josep Jornet (ECE), David Kaeli (ECE), Ryan Koppes (ChemE), Lara Milane/Mansoor Amiji (Pharmacy), Marvin Onabajo (ECE), Robert Platt (CS), Lili Su (ECE), Devesh Tiwari (ECE), and Rebecca Willits (ChemE). For more information about the students, projects, and participating labs, take a look here.
In addition to their lab work, the students are participating in a variety of activities to supplement their STEM learning experience. This includes, but is not limited to: engaging in interactive research seminars with Northeastern faculty and students, participating in virtual lab tours, and working together in community building activities.
During the first two weeks, the YSP scholars were presented with seminars led by Luis Frias (Diversity), Jennie Stephens (Diversifying Power), Jennifer Love (Intro to Engineering/Engineering at NEU, Shoe Design & EDP), and David Kaeli (Let’s Discuss Your Big Data). Amesbury High School science and engineering teacher Mark Casto led the students through engineering and scientific poster workshops. They created games highlighting societal issues during their StudyCrafter sessions with Casper Harteveld (Game Design) as well as engaged with students Nicholas O’Hare and Ronodeep Mitra to discuss their Bioengineering lab, led by Eno Ebong (ChemE, BioE). They even got to meet Mehrdad Sasani (CEE), who discussed the potential structural failures that led to the recent building collapse in Surfside, Florida. Finally, the students wrapped up their second week with a documentary (Belly of the Beast) on the illegal sterilizations of women in California women’s prisons. The movie was an extension to their previous discussion on science and engineering ethics and had a lively discussion with REU students afterward.
Professor Mehrdad Sasani’s Structural Failure Analysis on Surfside, Florida condo collapse
In the future, we are looking forward to engaging with more Northeastern faculty, students, and alumni from a wide range of STEM fields discussing their research and industry experience as well as an in-person field trip to the Northeastern campus, where we will finally get to see each other and explore campus life together!
This year’s program is co-coordinated by two Northeastern undergraduate students: Gabriella Gonzalez (Civil Engineering & Architectural Studies ‘24), an UPLIFT scholar, and Franklin Ollivierre III (Civil Engineering ‘25), a 2020 YSP alumni, with additional support by our center staff and work studies. The program started Monday, June 28th and concludes on Thursday, July 29th, when students will be presenting their research.
